Banjo attachment.



G. M. SPENCER. BANJO ATTACHMENT. APPLIGATION FILED JULY 7, 1909.

Patented Mar. 8, 1910.

snares EATER T @FFTQE.

GEQRGE MATHIAS SPENCER, Y3 ORGVILLE, WASHINGTON.

BAT-J0 ATTACE-ZEJZENT.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that. T, GEORGE lvIA'rrIIAs Srnrrcnn, a subject of the Kingof England, residing at Oroville, in the county of Ulranogan and Stateof Vi ashington, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBanjo Attachments; and lt do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact. description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in sound modifying attachments forbanjos.

The object of the invention is to provide an attachment of thischaracter by means of which the tone of the banjo is greatly improvedand a lighter action provided.

A further object is to provide an attachment of this character which maybe readily applied to a banjo to produce the desired results.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention consists ofcertain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement ofparts, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a top plan view of a banjowith the handle broken off showing the application of the inventionthereto; Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof; Fig. 3 is a verticallongitudinal section of the head on the line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. at is across sectional view of the same on the line l4 of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is adetail perspective view of the outer bridge of the attachment; Fig. 6 isa similar view of the inner bridge of the attachment.

In the embodiment of the invention, I provide an outer bridge 1 which isadapted to be engaged with the head of the banjo and with the strings inthe usual manner. The bridge 1 comprises a flat plate 2 having at oneend a reduced stem 3 and at its opposite end a transverse cleat tprovided with notches to receive the strings of the banjo. On the underside of the plate 2 is arranged a head engaging spacing member 5.

In connection with the outer bridge 1, I provide an inner bridge member6 which is arranged on the inner side of the head between the same andthe inner brace bar 7 of the head supporting frame 8. The inner bridgemember (3 is here shown and preferably consists of a series of laterallypro- Specifieation of Letters Eatent.

Application filed July 7, 1W3.

Patented Mar. 8, 1910.

Serial No. 506,302.

jecting arms 9 of which there may be any suitable number, four of saidarms being shown in the present instance. The arms 9, as here shown,project at right angles to each other and on the outer ends thereof areformed laterally projecting lugs 10 which are engaged with the innerside of the head of the banjo.

The inner bridge member 6 is held in position and operatively connectedwith the reduced stem ,3 of the outer bridge by a string 11 which ispreferably formed of catgut but which may be of any suitable material,and is inserted through apertures 12 foaned in the inner member 6 andthrough small perforations formed in the head of the banjo and throughthe apertured ends of a bridge piece 13 arranged over the stem 3 andholding this end of the bridge 1. The string after being thus passedthrough the inner bridge member 6, the head of the banjo and the bridgepiece 13, as described, has its ends tied, thus rigidly securing theinner bridge member in place. The bridge piece 13 serves to hold thestem end of the outer bridge 1 and also prevents the string 11 fromcutting through the head of the banjo.

By providing an attachment constructed and arranged as herein shown anddescribed, a counter vibration is produced on the inner side of the headof the banjo and thereby providing a lighter action and improving thetone of the instrument.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the inventionwill be readily understood without requiring a more extendedexplanation.

Various changes in the form, proportion and the minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the principle orsacrificing any of the advantages of the invention, as defined in theappended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a banjo head of an outer bridge, an innerbridge, a bridge piece to hold said outer bridge in position, and aconnection between said bridge piece and the instrument.

2. The combination with a banjo head, of an outer bridge arranged on theouter face of said head, said bridge having a reduced stem, an innerbridge engaged with the inner side of the head of the banjo, said thehead of the banjo and said inner bridge 1.0 inner bridge comprising aseries of laterally to secure the bridges in operative posiiion.

outer ends head engaging lugs adapted to engage the inner side of thehead of the 5 banjo, a bridge piece arranged on the outer side of thehead to hold the stem end of the enter bridge, and a connectionextending through and engaged with said bridge piece,

my hand in presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

GEORGE MATHIAS SPENCER. V Witnesses R. P. HOsKYN,

pro ecting arms or bars having at their i In testimony whereof I havehereunto set I i Mrs. J. A. STEWAR'I.

